SEAT SEEKS THE MOST INNOVATIVE TALENT AT 4YFN

Feb 28, 2018

The company is launching an ‘Open innovation challenge’ for startups to propose solutions to Industry 4.0 processes

SEAT is organising a masterclass with companies such as Agbar, Gas Natural Fenosa, Caixa Bank and Telefónica

The brand presents SEAT DisrUP to attract and recruit new future potentials

Barcelona, 27/02/2018. - SEAT is participating again this year at 4 Years From Now (4YFN) Barcelona, the international meeting of entrepreneurs and tech start-ups which takes place at Mobile World Congress

As was the case at the last edition of the event, SEAT has its own space where it can concentrate on networking and attracting highly qualified professionals in today’s tech environment. In this sense, under the heading “Join us, be part of our future”, the company aims to connect with the most innovative and disruptive talent attending the congress.

SEAT President Luca de Meo underlined that “this leading event for innovation and entrepreneurship enables us to identify talent that will help us face the future challenges of mobility and Industry 4.0”. He also pointed out that “in the last two years, 150 professionals with a digital profile have joined the team to help us spearhead the company’s digitisation.”

In addition to using the event as a backdrop for recruiting young talent, the company is also going to carry out several initiatives at the congress with the common goal of developing closer links with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, featuring an ‘Open innovation challenge’ whereby SEAT will engage start-ups in devising solutions to processes in the framework of Industry 4.0.

The Customer Quality team, in collaboration with the Innovation & Smart Factory team, have defined a challenge that consists of streamlining communication between the factory and dealerships. It is called "Service Quality 4.0: Agile communication between the factory and the dealership", and aims to offer solutions that make communication faster and more effective between the company and its dealer network, which spans more than 80 countries.

Another prominent initiative taking place during the event is the staging of a masterclass workshop titled “Corporate Innovation Through Working With Startups” on the business relations among large corporations with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, being held on Tuesday February 27 at noon, where sector-leading companies such as Aguas de Barcelona, Gas Natural Fenosa, Caixa Bank, Telefónica and SEAT will delve into the existing relations among big national corporations and the start-up ecosystem.

Challenges that will connect the brand with up-and-coming talent

Coinciding with its presence at 4YFN, today the company presented the SEAT DisrUP initiative, consisting in two upcoming events aimed at attracting and recruiting future talent, organised in conjunction with Pangea, the first global ecosystem of young talent that is helping companies face the challenges of cultural and digital transformation.

The initiative, which is holding a gathering in Madrid and Barcelona in April, is going to pose several challenges to a total of 60 young talents under the age of 26. They will be asked to propose solutions to the new digital environment that the automotive industry faces.

SEAT and Pangea will evaluate the proposals put forward by participants on the basis of criteria such as potential business feasibility, the change and improvement in the user experience, the originality and creative nature of the project or its level of innovation within the scope of mobility.

Committed to the entrepreneurial mobility ecosystem

SEAT’s presence at 4YFN is another sign of the company’s solid commitment to entrepreneurial talent. Another good example of this is the recently announced acquisition of Respiro, a pioneering hourly car rental startup in the city of Madrid, which will give the brand its own solution in the shared vehicle segment.

Moreover, and with the goal of furthering relations with the international entrepreneurial ecosystem, the company is implementing the XPLORA initiative in Israel. This project, which was set up last November, aims to foster relations with startups and local players associated with mobility to identify innovative projects that can lead to new solutions and business models for the brand in the future.

SEAT is the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell (Barcelona), exporting 80% of its vehicles, and is present in over 80 countries through a network of 1,700 dealerships. In 2017, SEAT achieved worldwide sales of nearly 470,000 vehicles.

The SEAT Group employs close to 14,700 professionals at its three production centres – Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat and Martorell, where it manufactures the highly successful Ibiza, Leon and Arona. Additionally, the company produces the Ateca and the Toledo in the Czech Republic, the Alhambra in Portugal and the Mii in Slovakia.

The multinational has a Technical Centre, which operates as a knowledge hub that brings together 1,000 engineers who are focussed on developing innovation for Spain’s largest industrial investor in R&D. SEAT already features the latest connectivity technology in its vehicle range and is currently engaged in the company’s global digitalisation process to promote the mobility of the future.